— I woke up this morning thinking that Wilcox’s Kenny Dipko and Delshawn Mitchell have not stopped running. — Maybe they haven’t. — I also woke up thinking that St. Francis just turned the top half of the Mercury News… Continue Reading →

— But, wow, did Wilcox look impressive in what was supposed to be a big game Friday night at Los Gatos.

— I can’t recall the last time I covered a game between two high-level programs in which one team had so many long — and I do mean long — touchdowns plays.

— Mitchell scored on runs of 49 and 64 yards.

— Dipko, the Chargers’ quarterback, was even more impressive.

— Running Wilcox’s option, the speedy QB put the game out of reach in the second half with scoring runs of 54, 53 and 27 yards.

— I don’t think he was touched on any of them.

— In fact, the toughest hit Dipko might have absorbed all night came in the postgame celebration, when a teammate’s helmet accidentally bonked him in the jaw.

— As for Los Gatos, it was clearly a frustrating night.

— The Wildcats came in riding a five-game winning streak under new coach Mark Krail, but Friday marked the beginning of a brutal but highly-anticipated closing stretch — Wilcox, at Palo Alto, Milpitas.

— The night started poorly for Los Gatos, got a little better in the second quarter and ran away from the Wildcats (literally) in the second half.

— Mitchell’s 49-yard TD run came on Wilcox’s first series, and Alex Ortiz followed with a 65-yard punt return for a lightning-quick 14-0 lead.

— Los Gatos bounced back behind Joey Wood’s hard-driving legs, cutting the deficit to 14-7, but the Wildcats failed to convert on a few more scoring opportunities that might have given them a halftime lead.

Reaction

Dipko: “Got to give it to the O-line because they’re the ones that get us into the end zone. Give all the credit to the O-line.”

Krail: “The first half, we had the ball in the red zone twice and came away with nothing. It’s just one of those nights. But in the big picture, with the respect to the championship, it doesn’t really change things. We win the next two we’re co-champs and on to the playoffs. While it hurts a little right now, we’ve got to learn and bounce back and get ready to go play Palo Alto.”

More on the St. Francis game (courtesy of colleague Glenn Reeves):

— Serra’s defense, which looked so good in limiting Bellarmine and Valley Christian to 7 points apiece, has sprung a leak.

— The Lancers mixed in the passing of William Fisher-Colbrie with its I-formation, power-running base offense.

— Alex Andrighetto got the heavy duty early.

— But after he went out of the game with an apparent shoulder injury, first Dennis Green and then Landon Baty took his place as primary ball carrier. Baty scored two touchdowns in the final 5:13.

— Serra’s offense can be difficult to prepare for because of its use of diametrically opposite formations. It’s basically two offenses: the spread, with players deployed from sideline to sideline, and the completely compacted double wing.

— While it can be hard to prepare for, I get the feeling the extreme difference between the two also makes it difficult to run refined and polished versions of either, especially the spread, which was only introduced at Serra a few months ago.

— Not to make too much of a deal about it. Serra hit its season scoring average of 34 against St. Francis (a team that allowed only 67 points total in its previous seven games) and you’ve got to figure 34 should be plenty enough to win.

— But not always, as the Padres found out Friday, in this day and age of inflated scoring.

Reaction

Baty: “We wanted this game more than any game we ever played. This game showed the character of this team, how much heart this team has.”

Serra’s Kava Cassidy: “At the end St. Francis was just more disciplined than we were. We made a lot more mistakes; that’s what killed us. They had no penalties, we had a lot of penalties. They’re a real good team. The WCAL is not an easy league.”

(Top photo) Wilcox quarterback Kenny Dipko scores on a 53-yard run for a 35-7 lead over Los Gatos in a SCVAL De Anza Division football game Friday night, Nov. 1, 2013, at Los Gatos High School. (Karl Mondon/staff)

]]>http://blogs.mercurynews.com/hssports/2013/11/02/saturday-morning-football-recap-st-francis-upsets-serra-wilcox-runs-past-los-gatos-and-much-more/feed/10ssjm1102losgatos09-LSerra St. Francis FootballFootball: Gilroy, Live Oak running backs charging toward CCS record bookhttp://blogs.mercurynews.com/hssports/2013/10/02/football-gilroy-live-oak-running-backs-charging-toward-ccs-record-book/
http://blogs.mercurynews.com/hssports/2013/10/02/football-gilroy-live-oak-running-backs-charging-toward-ccs-record-book/#commentsWed, 02 Oct 2013 19:53:09 +0000http://blogs.mercurynews.com/hssports/?p=5505Down at the southern end of Santa Clara County, a running back is on pace to break the Central Coast Section season rushing record that was set just last year. His name is Brandon Boyd. He plays for Gilroy. And,… Continue Reading →